4 Step Credit recently helped a dad form a plan to get his first home in 90 days.

A landlord referred his tenant to us. The landlord will be transitioning into a nursing home soon, and he wants his long-time tenant to buy the property that he has been renting. The tenant has three girls 11,9, and 13 months. He needs to acquire a $20,000 mortgage. His rent is $450. His mortgage payment would be $300, and that includes all insurances and taxes. Saving $150 per month for a guy who makes $21,000 per year is a life-changing amount of money.

The tenant called me because his landlord asked him too. He had no real idea how the lending world worked and no real hope of getting of getting home loan qualified. We arranged a time to meet. I met him, and his youngest daughter.It is easy to judge someone who doesn’t make much money and doesn’t drive the nicest car or doesn’t come close to sporting the latest fashions. I have been guilty of and repented for that more times than I care to admit. This 40-year-old father of three displayed a love for his 13-month-old daughter that set him high above most people I meet. I was sharing a table with a man who wanted to do right by his family. Income bracket and social status mattered not to my new friend, and I was impressed.

It is easy to judge someone who doesn’t make much money, and doesn’t drive the nicest car, and doesn’t come close to sporting the latest fashions.  The client was ready to defy stereotypes.  This 40-year-old father of three, displayed a love for his 13-month-old daughter that set him high above most people I have met. I was helping a man who wanted to do right by his family.  Income bracket and social status mattered not to my new friend, and I was impressed.

I saw the six collections caused by not having health insurance, along with no good open active credit accounts. My new friend had a couple of small loans that were closed and paid well on a few years ago through his bank. He had a $2,900 car that was paid for, a 537 Equifax FICO score, and a willingness to listen and keep an open mind. After our meeting, we made plans to meet at his bank the following business day.

We visited a LOCAL bank and met with a loan officer. We explained that we needed to use his vehicle as a way to acquire good score building credit in hopes of getting a $20,000 mortgage. We explained that the hurry was twofold; dealing with the landlord and not his estate would be much easier and saving $150 per month in housing costs, would make raising three daughters a lot easier. Our loan officer said he understood. An hour and a half later we had a $1,000 loan against his car. We walked out of his bank with two installment loans, a $500 credit card and $450 in cash.

Now we can pay the little collections, negotiate deletions, and make payment arrangements on the two larger collections to keep them from going into judgment status. There is a slight chance the hospital with the larger collections will make us a hard to refuse settlement offer. We will be satisfied to keep those accounts from doing any more damage. In the meantime, his new credit will be hitting his report credit report in 30 days.

My new friend should expect that his 537-credit score will jump to the 580 to 600 range just because of the new good reporting credit. His credit scores jump before we pay one collection. With a little luck, we will get 4 or 5 collections paid and deleted. My 14 years’ experience says that should take his 537 to the 650 range inside of 60 days. That is a happy ending for a man who just wants to do right by his daughters.

My 14 years’ worth of experience says that should take his 537 to the 650 range inside of 60 days. That is a happy ending for a man who just wants to do right by his daughters.

He is a few things that could have derailed the whole process:

  1. His landlord could have written him off and not sought to help him.
  2. He could have continued to believe that there was nothing he could do to improve his credit.
  3. We could have dealt with a bank employee who was not very good at their job. The whole process would have turned into a nightmare.  IT PAYS TO BANK LOCAL.
  4. He could have found a loan officer who liked to play credit coach, and gotten some really bad advice.
  5. He could have called a big bank that was short on problem-solving and long on attitude, gotten turned down and went back to having no hope.

Their is hope for this person to change his station in life, one good decision at a time.  Their is hope for you as well!  No matter what your situation, today can be the first step.  Contact us, we want to help!